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| Poorly scanned in sketch I did of Wasabi. She will kick your ass all over the place. |
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Wasabi: I am Woman!
They're really not that bad, in fact, they are kind of amazing.
I'm glad I ended up doing my post last. At least now I can, in addition to the drawings and things I was going to write, vehemently deny what my siblings have written. I grew up adoring both of them. Sure we all fought and were occasionally mean to each other but I think that I was lucky in the family I was given and that is especially true about my brother and sister.
I will accept that it took my sister and I a long time to get to know our brother. As they have both described, it was about the time he was joining the army and Wasabi and I were in our late years of high school. Before that I have a few "stock" images of my brother in my mind; he was always tall, skinny, really rather lanky and for the longest time I swear he had his hair in a mullet, or a near-mullet.
While Duck and Wasabi fought constantly, I usually sat out of the arguments because I was favored by Duck as a computer game partner for the few that required an additional player and to argue would end that arrangement, I was sure. I loved playing Pokemon (we downloaded roms and emulators since we had no Gameboy) and War lords with him and I equally loved when he gave me the chance to watch him play games like Savage Empire, Final Fantasy, or King's Quest. Since in my eyes he was a genius at all things gaming, I knew even watching him would teach me what I needed to know to beat them on my own. To me, Duck was a genius. Another image that comes to mind is him playing chess. He was in chess club and our family went to a few of the tournaments to watch him play. I'm sure my memory is probably blatantly failing but I feel like he never lost. He was that good.
All in all, I felt my brother was a mysterious genius when we were younger. He is still incredibly brilliant, the only thing that has really changed is now we know him better. After we finally became close Alec started joining in on our elaborate story creations which I feel is really only an extension of the massive worlds we'd create as children (We'd use anything and everything-Barbies, Legos, Action figures, the furniture, my mom's little knickknacks-the whole house was simply fruitful with valuable additions to our little universes). His insight into weaving together a story has always been incredible. He's really detailed and plot oriented which is valuable to someone like myself who can really only come up with exciting characters and elaborate costumes and settings. He has always been, since he started helping Wasabi, Noir and Myself write, the main one who asks "Why?".
Oh and Noir (Jessie). Let's not forget her, although she refuses to write about herself and Wasabi and Duck have decided to merely mention her. But she really is important to our circle as she was one of the first to begin writing and drawing stories with Wasabi and me. When we were younger Noir was the cynical realist to my sunny optimist. She could, and still can although she rarely shows me any work these days, draw the most amazingly delicate and beautiful things, usually jewelry clad women in flowing gowns. And she is and has always been one of the most gorgeous girls I know. Seriously, lady should play Snow White or something because she's got that soft pale skin and raven hair thing going on (although now her locks are a henna dyed fabulous deep red).
We spent many hours watching Anime like Sailor Moon, Slayers, and Magic Knight Rayearth together and late nights scribbling page after page of fanfiction or our own stories which we would then fawn over. My favorite memory is the punching game we played. It's as simple as it sounds. We simply punched each other in the arms, always taking turns and surprising each other to the best of our ability. The point is to punch as hard as you can. Despite her small frame, I think Noir has always been the best at this game. I simply don't have her killer instinct.
Luckily, she married Duck so we can still play this game. I think marriage has softened her. She bakes now, a lot and very well, and I don't seem to remember her being fond of the kitchen when we were younger. She's also all "Lovey-Dovey" with my brother. Seriously, even for a soft hearted romantic like me, it's a little much. But they are one of the sweetest couples I know.
Wasabi and Duck have both failed to describe where we got our nick names. Duck's came after Wasabi and Soy, merely as another condiment in the group. But the names Wasabi and Soy were more particularly selected by our father. I don't remember the context of the conversation but it was decided that based on our personalities I had to be Soy Sauce because everyone likes Soy. It's and easy addition to any meal. Very palatable. Oh, bBut Wasabi. Wasabi is different and unique and much harder to take. People really either love it or hate it and that is, and really has been for a long time, the way my sister is. She is direct, upfront, and knows exactly what she wants from you and how she feels about you. She will literally say anything if she thinks it's the truth. That means she can get called a bitch a lot. I love it. I really admire her and have always admired the way she is, mainly because I lack the same traits.
Wasabi was always sticking up for me as a kid and for that reason I never really got into fights with people much. Oh, but WE fought. We'd fight about me not playing with her enough when we were younger. We'd fight about my boyfriends (she never liked mine and still, to this day, is the harshest judge they have to face). Mostly our fights would last about five minutes till one of us started laughing (usually Wasabi) or crying (usually Me), which usually happened the second it got physical.
Despite the fighting I feel like we got along better than most siblings. Until high school we were nearly inseparable and even then shared all of our closest friends. Although we strove to distinguish our interests they always tended to align; she became a writer/photographer and I was the drawer/painter but we were both artists. We were both athletes as well and she chose cross country and track and field, I stuck with Kung-fu, softball, and occasionally soccer. Both of us devoured books like they were going to burn up but her favorite author was Salmon Rushdie who I refused to read until a year or two ago and mine was Tom Robbins, who I'm pretty sure she still doesn't read. For lighter reads, I became the master of science fiction and fantasy and she of westerns and romance novels. When it came to comics we always shared but she was unofficially the owner of all our western comics and I owned the Manga. The list goes on and on. For the most part, we've gotten over this kind of reaction to things and we've learned to collaborate. This can only be for the better when it comes to all the things we plan to write and draw together.
Wasabi is also a hell of a lot better at writing than I am. Her main skill in our stories was developing the backgrounds and histories. In other words, she was always the most ready to answer Duck's question of "Why?" with whatever detailed account she had created. Together they can connect the dots of any haphazard story we manage to come up with.
I'm all pooped on writing now. I think from my accounts of my siblings, as well as theirs, you can glean any information about me you really need to know.
I will apologize for the picture quality. I lack a scanner and thus used the one I had at work in addition to my camera phone.
 |
| Duck |
While Duck and Wasabi fought constantly, I usually sat out of the arguments because I was favored by Duck as a computer game partner for the few that required an additional player and to argue would end that arrangement, I was sure. I loved playing Pokemon (we downloaded roms and emulators since we had no Gameboy) and War lords with him and I equally loved when he gave me the chance to watch him play games like Savage Empire, Final Fantasy, or King's Quest. Since in my eyes he was a genius at all things gaming, I knew even watching him would teach me what I needed to know to beat them on my own. To me, Duck was a genius. Another image that comes to mind is him playing chess. He was in chess club and our family went to a few of the tournaments to watch him play. I'm sure my memory is probably blatantly failing but I feel like he never lost. He was that good.
All in all, I felt my brother was a mysterious genius when we were younger. He is still incredibly brilliant, the only thing that has really changed is now we know him better. After we finally became close Alec started joining in on our elaborate story creations which I feel is really only an extension of the massive worlds we'd create as children (We'd use anything and everything-Barbies, Legos, Action figures, the furniture, my mom's little knickknacks-the whole house was simply fruitful with valuable additions to our little universes). His insight into weaving together a story has always been incredible. He's really detailed and plot oriented which is valuable to someone like myself who can really only come up with exciting characters and elaborate costumes and settings. He has always been, since he started helping Wasabi, Noir and Myself write, the main one who asks "Why?". |
| Noir |
 |
| Punch Punch! |
We spent many hours watching Anime like Sailor Moon, Slayers, and Magic Knight Rayearth together and late nights scribbling page after page of fanfiction or our own stories which we would then fawn over. My favorite memory is the punching game we played. It's as simple as it sounds. We simply punched each other in the arms, always taking turns and surprising each other to the best of our ability. The point is to punch as hard as you can. Despite her small frame, I think Noir has always been the best at this game. I simply don't have her killer instinct.
Luckily, she married Duck so we can still play this game. I think marriage has softened her. She bakes now, a lot and very well, and I don't seem to remember her being fond of the kitchen when we were younger. She's also all "Lovey-Dovey" with my brother. Seriously, even for a soft hearted romantic like me, it's a little much. But they are one of the sweetest couples I know.
 |
| Wasabi |
Wasabi and Duck have both failed to describe where we got our nick names. Duck's came after Wasabi and Soy, merely as another condiment in the group. But the names Wasabi and Soy were more particularly selected by our father. I don't remember the context of the conversation but it was decided that based on our personalities I had to be Soy Sauce because everyone likes Soy. It's and easy addition to any meal. Very palatable. Oh, bBut Wasabi. Wasabi is different and unique and much harder to take. People really either love it or hate it and that is, and really has been for a long time, the way my sister is. She is direct, upfront, and knows exactly what she wants from you and how she feels about you. She will literally say anything if she thinks it's the truth. That means she can get called a bitch a lot. I love it. I really admire her and have always admired the way she is, mainly because I lack the same traits.
Wasabi was always sticking up for me as a kid and for that reason I never really got into fights with people much. Oh, but WE fought. We'd fight about me not playing with her enough when we were younger. We'd fight about my boyfriends (she never liked mine and still, to this day, is the harshest judge they have to face). Mostly our fights would last about five minutes till one of us started laughing (usually Wasabi) or crying (usually Me), which usually happened the second it got physical.
Despite the fighting I feel like we got along better than most siblings. Until high school we were nearly inseparable and even then shared all of our closest friends. Although we strove to distinguish our interests they always tended to align; she became a writer/photographer and I was the drawer/painter but we were both artists. We were both athletes as well and she chose cross country and track and field, I stuck with Kung-fu, softball, and occasionally soccer. Both of us devoured books like they were going to burn up but her favorite author was Salmon Rushdie who I refused to read until a year or two ago and mine was Tom Robbins, who I'm pretty sure she still doesn't read. For lighter reads, I became the master of science fiction and fantasy and she of westerns and romance novels. When it came to comics we always shared but she was unofficially the owner of all our western comics and I owned the Manga. The list goes on and on. For the most part, we've gotten over this kind of reaction to things and we've learned to collaborate. This can only be for the better when it comes to all the things we plan to write and draw together.
Wasabi is also a hell of a lot better at writing than I am. Her main skill in our stories was developing the backgrounds and histories. In other words, she was always the most ready to answer Duck's question of "Why?" with whatever detailed account she had created. Together they can connect the dots of any haphazard story we manage to come up with.
I'm all pooped on writing now. I think from my accounts of my siblings, as well as theirs, you can glean any information about me you really need to know.
I will apologize for the picture quality. I lack a scanner and thus used the one I had at work in addition to my camera phone.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Call me the evil one.
Or the selfish one. Or the manipulative one. Or pick a short to the point explicative. But whichever bad name you might call me, I can guarantee that my darling twin (I write without sarcasm) has probably never been called that - possibly because the name caller would have to answer to me or our older brother and his wife- but more likely because my twin just happens to be one of the kindest, sweetest people on earth. Just my damn luck to share a womb with her.
Is that enough of an introduction to the three of us?
Okay, okay. I'll give you a little more detail.
As my big brother Alec has already enumerated pursuant to the deadline I happened to miss, I am a twin. My name is Rachel, or Rae for friends, or per this little familial creative circle, you can call me Wasabi.
Why Wasabi? Well, I can't really remember how we originally chose our three nicknames based off of Chinese food condiments (Duck sauce for Alec and Soy sauce for Jessica), but if you want to know why the metaphor works for me, consider a friend of mine who once on a dare ate a fistful of Wasabi - then proceeded to vomit for hours, eyes watering and mouth burning, afterward complaining of butt burning diarrhea for days.
Yup, that pretty much sums me up in a really long run on sentence.
So I'm the younger of us identical beings born a little over 25 years ago to a crazy beautiful mother and hilarious smarty pants dad. Oh, and of course, the mysterious big brother.
Don't ask me how, but during our younger years, I managed to maintain "the baby of the family" status, despite only being one minute younger than Soy. I grew up desperately wanting to be the center of attention, whether it was my siblings', my parents' or just anyone who would look in my direction. But I never knew what to do with that attention when I got it. This led to numerous fights with my sister when she opted to play computer games with Duck instead of Barbies with me, temper tantrums when I was confronted by my parents for misbehavior, bad grades when I should've been getting A's, and countless times when I managed to weasel my way out of trouble or my way in to what I wanted, usually to the disadvantage of one of my siblings (in fact, I'm pretty sure I was much more of a brat than Duck let on in his retelling of the infamous "kick").
And while I screamed and cried all the way through adolescence, fighting my big brother just to be a part of his world, manipulating my sister for what I wanted, and worrying my parents to death... Duck and Soy were somewhere on opposite ends of the spectrum. Duck, as he has already retold, rebelled the big brother status until we were teenagers and Soy, well, like I already said, my twin sister is one of the most sincerely kind people this planet has ever seen, and thus took most of my shit, my brother's shit, even my parent's shit at times, with an unturned ear and even an apology when we were really the ones to blame.
(We used to call her the martyr, but don't mention it or she'll get pissed).
And then, a little less than ten years ago, things changed. Our family changed in drastic ways, and we each in turn changed with it.
Duck joined the army, and although he attributes loaning us his car as being the first major cool big brother thing he did for us, the shift came before that. There was a trip, one in which Duck and I were able to spend a lot of time really talking, and I mean truly conversing, and suddenly we weren't just siblings anymore, we were friends.
Soy, to put it bluntly, got herself a bit of a spine. Though we still argued plenty (and do today every now and then for old times sake), Soy finally stopped letting me walk all over her, and really started putting me in my place. Sure, it may have contributed to one of my biggest breakdowns in high school (just kidding - kind of), but because of my twin sister I learned how to not just accept friendship, but to give friendship as well.
And me? Well, I got to be a big sister myself finally. The younger Caldai spawn were lucky that I had two exemplary older siblings of my own to draw guidance from... hell, I've been lucky to have all of them.
Now we are all grown-up (heh heh). Duck married our best friend (because of meeeeeee), Jessica is an insanely talented artist, kicking butts all over Atlanta (and she cusses now!), and me? I'm not a four letter word anymore. I'm a party girl turned domesticated soon to be teacher, who happens to love writing, taking pretty pictures and trying new extreme sports with my live in man.
Yup, life is good.
So that's just a little bit (yeah I go on and on, I know) about who we are from my perspective (so get off my back Soy!). Soon, hopefully, our writing and art and other projects will speak for themselves.
Is that enough of an introduction to the three of us?
Okay, okay. I'll give you a little more detail.
As my big brother Alec has already enumerated pursuant to the deadline I happened to miss, I am a twin. My name is Rachel, or Rae for friends, or per this little familial creative circle, you can call me Wasabi.
Why Wasabi? Well, I can't really remember how we originally chose our three nicknames based off of Chinese food condiments (Duck sauce for Alec and Soy sauce for Jessica), but if you want to know why the metaphor works for me, consider a friend of mine who once on a dare ate a fistful of Wasabi - then proceeded to vomit for hours, eyes watering and mouth burning, afterward complaining of butt burning diarrhea for days.
Yup, that pretty much sums me up in a really long run on sentence.
So I'm the younger of us identical beings born a little over 25 years ago to a crazy beautiful mother and hilarious smarty pants dad. Oh, and of course, the mysterious big brother.
Don't ask me how, but during our younger years, I managed to maintain "the baby of the family" status, despite only being one minute younger than Soy. I grew up desperately wanting to be the center of attention, whether it was my siblings', my parents' or just anyone who would look in my direction. But I never knew what to do with that attention when I got it. This led to numerous fights with my sister when she opted to play computer games with Duck instead of Barbies with me, temper tantrums when I was confronted by my parents for misbehavior, bad grades when I should've been getting A's, and countless times when I managed to weasel my way out of trouble or my way in to what I wanted, usually to the disadvantage of one of my siblings (in fact, I'm pretty sure I was much more of a brat than Duck let on in his retelling of the infamous "kick").
And while I screamed and cried all the way through adolescence, fighting my big brother just to be a part of his world, manipulating my sister for what I wanted, and worrying my parents to death... Duck and Soy were somewhere on opposite ends of the spectrum. Duck, as he has already retold, rebelled the big brother status until we were teenagers and Soy, well, like I already said, my twin sister is one of the most sincerely kind people this planet has ever seen, and thus took most of my shit, my brother's shit, even my parent's shit at times, with an unturned ear and even an apology when we were really the ones to blame.
(We used to call her the martyr, but don't mention it or she'll get pissed).
And then, a little less than ten years ago, things changed. Our family changed in drastic ways, and we each in turn changed with it.
Duck joined the army, and although he attributes loaning us his car as being the first major cool big brother thing he did for us, the shift came before that. There was a trip, one in which Duck and I were able to spend a lot of time really talking, and I mean truly conversing, and suddenly we weren't just siblings anymore, we were friends.
Soy, to put it bluntly, got herself a bit of a spine. Though we still argued plenty (and do today every now and then for old times sake), Soy finally stopped letting me walk all over her, and really started putting me in my place. Sure, it may have contributed to one of my biggest breakdowns in high school (just kidding - kind of), but because of my twin sister I learned how to not just accept friendship, but to give friendship as well.
And me? Well, I got to be a big sister myself finally. The younger Caldai spawn were lucky that I had two exemplary older siblings of my own to draw guidance from... hell, I've been lucky to have all of them.
Now we are all grown-up (heh heh). Duck married our best friend (because of meeeeeee), Jessica is an insanely talented artist, kicking butts all over Atlanta (and she cusses now!), and me? I'm not a four letter word anymore. I'm a party girl turned domesticated soon to be teacher, who happens to love writing, taking pretty pictures and trying new extreme sports with my live in man.
Yup, life is good.
So that's just a little bit (yeah I go on and on, I know) about who we are from my perspective (so get off my back Soy!). Soon, hopefully, our writing and art and other projects will speak for themselves.
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